Foot operated shears



Feb. 20, 1951 w. F. ALTENPOHL, JR

FOOT OPERATED SHEARS Filed Jan. 30, 1950 Mil/21m E Alfenpohl, Jr.

INV EN TOR. m

BY n

Patented Feb. 20, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOOT OPERATED SHEARS William F. Altenpohl, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.

Application January 30, 1950, Serial No. 141,328

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in shears, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described, such as may be conveniently and effectively employed for cutting the legs of poultry, an important feature of the invention residing in the provision of means for actuating the shears by foot pressure so that both hands of the operator are free to handle the bird.

Although the invention is primarily intended for the purpose above outlined, it may also be employed for cutting or shearing other articks.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity of construction, in its convenient and expeditious operation, and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects and features in view, and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

Figure L2 is a fragmentary sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 22 in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the knives used in the invention.

Like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the invention is embodied in foot operated shears designated generally by the reference character I0, these consisting of a U-shaped bracket 12 which is suitably secured to an elevated support, such as for example, a table top or bench M, the bracket l2 carrying a horizontal fulcrum pin IS.

A pair of arms I8, 20 have intermediate portions thereof mounted in spaced relation on the pin l6 and extend forwardly and rearwardly therefrom, a pair of coacting knife blades 22, hereinafter more fully described, being secured by rivets, or the like, 24 to the inner surfaces of the forward end portions of the respective arms, as will be clearly apparent.

A second U-shaped bracket 26 is suitably secured as at 28 to the floor 30 (or some other support disposed below the table M) the bracket 26 affording bearings for a horizontal shaft 32. The axis of this shaft is parallel to that of the fulcrum pin I6, and it is to be noted that a lever 34 is rigidly secured intermediate the ends thereof to the shaft. A pair of upwardly extending links 36, 38 are pivotally connected at their lower ends to opposite end portions of the lever 34 at unequal distances from the shaft 32, that is to say, the point of connection of the link 36 to the lever 34 is farther away from the shaft 32 than the point of connection of the link 38. The upper ends of the links 36, 3B are pivotally connected to rear end portions of the arms I8, 20, respectively, at substantially equal distances from the fulcrum pin [6, being apparent from the foregoing that when the shaft 32 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 48, the knife blades 22 on the two arms I8, 20 will not only be brought together, but the blade on the arm I8 will travel through a considerably greater disance than the blade on the arm 20.

Before proceeding to describe the means for rotating the shaft 32, it may be added that the knife blades 22 have sharp cutting edges 42 provided intermediate their ends with substantially semi-circular notches or recesses 44 which constitute seats for the article which is to be sheared, whereby that article is prevented from being pushed or slid outwardly by the shearing action of the blades. Horeover, since the blade on the arm 2!! travels toward the blade on the arm [8 through a relatively shorter distance than the blade on the arm IB travels toward the blade on the arm 20, there will exist a tendency for the blade on the arm 20 to better support the article which is applied to it for cutting, thus safeguarding the fingers and hands of the operator from injury.

The means for actuating the device consists of a crank 46 which is secured to the shaft 32 and is operatively connected by a rod 48 to an end portion of a bar 5| the remaining end of which carries a foot pedal 52. The intermediate portion of the bar is suitably fulcrumed on a pin 54 in a U-shaped bracket 56 which is also secured to the floor or support 30, it being apparent that when the foot pedal 52 is depressed, the shaft 32 will be rotated in the direction of the arrow 40 and the cutting knife 22 on the arms I8, 23, will be brought together.

Inasmuch as the cutting knives 22, are secured to the inner surfaces of the two arms I8, 2i), a suitable spacer 58 is provided on thefulcruzm pin l5 to retain the arms in properly spaced relation and thereby facilitate sliding face to face contact of the two blades.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly understood from the foregoing disclosure, and accordingly further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary. a

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In foot operated shears, the combination of a bracket mounted upon an elevated support, a horizontal fulcrum pin carried by said bracket, a pair of arms having intermediate portions thereof mounted on said pin and extending forwardly and rearwardly therefrom, a pair of coacting knives provided on forward portions of said arms, a second bracket disposed below the stated support, a horizontal shaft :rotatably mounted in said second bracket, a lever secured intermediate the ends thereof to said shaft, a pair of upwardly extending links connected to pposite end portions of said lever at unequal distances from the shaft, upper ends of said links being connected to rear end portions of the respective arms at equal distances from said fulcrum pin, and a forwardly projecting foot pedal operatively connected to said shaft, whereby said knives may be brought together through unequal distances of travel when the foot pedal is depressed.

2. The device as defined in claim 2, together with a crank secured to said shaft, a third bracket disposed forwardly of said second bracket, a bar fulcrumed intermediate the ends thereof in said third bracket and having said foot pedal at one end thereof, and a connecting rod extending from the remaining end of said bar to said crank.

3. In foot operated shears, the combination of a bracket mounted upon an elevated support, a horizontal fulcrum pin carried by said bracket, 2, pair of arms having intermediate portions thereof mounted on said pin and extending forwardly and rearwardly therefrom, a pair of coacting knives provided on forward portions of said arms, said coacting knives being provided with arcuate cutting edges whereby the object being cut will be held from shearing movement,

REFERENiHES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 146,138 Merritt Jan. 6, 1874 153,279 Reynolds July 21, 1874 I FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date France July 11, 1905 

